By: Jeff Townsend, Boxing writer
Bayareasportsdrive.com
11-21-08
In
a crossroads fight to establish which fighter still had the skill and
talent to be a force in the lightweight division, WBO Asian Pacific
Champion Bobby Pacquiao (29-15-3, 14 KOs) of the Philippines squared off
against NABA Lightweight Champion Rob Frankel (26-9-1, 4 KOs) of Denver,
CO. Bobby Pacquiao might have been at a disadvantage coming into this
fight since his trainer (Freddie Roach) could not be in his corner since
he is currently training Bobby’s brother, Manny Pacquiao, for his big
showdown against Oscar De La Hoya.
Pacquiao is a pressure fighter who wants to get
close to his opponent in order to land a high volume of punches. The
body attack is key for him, as he looks to wear down his opponent to
land even more punches. Pacquiao started out strong, landing several
straight right hands in the second round which snapped back Frankel’s
head. Shortly after that, blood began to flow from Frankel’s nose. In
these early rounds, Pacquiao threw a pretty good number of body shots
even though few landed cleanly.
Frankel’s main weapon was a straight right hand.
He would throw a decent jab and then follow it up with his trademark
right. In the
early rounds, he wasn’t very effective with landing the right hand since
Pacquiao’s boxing skills and movement were enough to keep Frankel away.
However, by the middle rounds, Frankel was becoming very adept at
landing the right hand which allowed him to take control of the fight.
Since Pacquiao does not work behind the jab, he is forced to stay close
to his opponent. This meant that Frankel had many opportunities to
pepper Pacquiao with his right hand which he did over and over again.
Frankel was never able to seriously hurt Pacquiao with any of his
punches but he clearly was winning round after round.
Pacquiao came out very aggressively in the tenth
round, probably realizing that he needed a knockout in order to win the
fight. There was some good action in this final round but Pacquiao’s
dirty tactics caught up to him and he was penalized a point for low
blows. At the conclusion of the fight, all three judges scored the
fight 98-91 for Rob Frankel, giving him one of the biggest wins of his
career.
Chika Nakumura
Showed She Is A Force To Be Reckoned With
In the co-main event, Chika Nakumura (8-0, 3 KOs)
of New York won a unanimous decision over tough Tiffany Junot (4-2, 3
KOs) of New Orleans, LA in a six round lightweight bout. Nakumura was
aggressive throughout the entire fight and was very focused on landing
hard punches. Nakumura kept coming forward, throwing hard right hands
and body shots with no fear of being hit. Her defense consisted of
always coming forward along with a high punch output.
Junot had a difficult time dealing with the
constant pressure and power punches of her opponent throughout the fight
but she did everything she could to stay competitive. Junot had some
good moments in the fourth and fifth round by throwing jabs and body
shots, knowing that Nakumura would always be walking right to her. Even
though Nakumura seemed rather stiff and did not move her head to avoid
punches, her height advantage and strength allowed her to win the
majority of the rounds.
J.P. Gets
Stopped in Three By Florentino
In an action-packed super middleweight bout,
Roberto Florentino (3-3, 2 KOs)
of Indianapolis, Indiana played the part
of spoiler by stopping hometown favorite Jason “J.P.” Peterson (2-2, 1
KO) of San Francisco, CA via a third round TKO. J.P. always brings out
a large crowd of supporters and they warmly welcomed him to the ring.
The first round began with J.P. landing some hard right hands but Florentino took control for the rest of the round by peppering J.P. with
solid shots.
J.P. tried to be more aggressive in the second
round but his lack of an effective defense made the fight much more
difficult for him. Once Florentino would begin to throw punches, J.P.
would stay right in front of him, merely attempting to avoid being hit.
Inevitably, Florentino would land at least a couple of good shots to
J.P.’s head and body.
Midway through the third round, Florentino
connected with a hard right to J.P.’s head that caused him to be
slightly off-balance. Florentino followed that up with another hard
right hand that sent J.P. into the ropes. Since J.P.’s glove had
touched the canvas, the referee ruled it a knockdown and began a count.
J.P.’s legs were clearly wobbly, prompting the referee to ask if he was
okay. J.P. turned his back on the referee which the referee took to
mean that he did not want to continue, causing the fight to be stopped
at 1:48 of the third round.
Undercard
Results
In the opening fight of the night, Melissa McMorrow
(2-0) pounded out a convincing four round unanimous decision over Gloria
Salas (0-1). McMorrow showed very good boxing technique by throwing
solid punches while avoiding most of Salas’ punches. Despite only
having fought in two professional fights, McMorrow looks like she will
be a force to be reckoned with in the light flyweight division.
When heavyweights step in the ring, there is more
of a chance for a big knockout and that is exactly what happened in the
fight between Yohan Banks (2-1-1, 1 KO) and Bernard Gray (2-3). Banks
outweighed Gray by 45 pounds and used his size to smother Gray in first
round. Gray had a difficult time landing much of anything since Banks
was right on top of him. Late in the second round, Banks landed a huge
right uppercut on Gray’s chin, sending him thudding to the canvas. The
referee quickly jumped in and stopped the fight without even bothering
to begin a count.
Junior middleweight Eric Garcia (3-0-1, 1 KO) of
Salinas, CA won a convincing four round unanimous decision over Geoffery
Spruiell (7-7, 2 KOs) of Colorado Springs, CO. Garcia used his
superior boxing skills to take control of the fight while working behind
his jab for the entire fight. Garcia knocked down Spruiell with a hard
right hand to Spruiell’s head midway through the third round. Despite
Spruiell being visibly hurt, Garcia remained tentative for the rest of
the round which allowed the opponent a chance to survive the fight.
In a very awkward match-up of welterweights, Karim
Mayfield (7-0-1, 5 KOs) of San Francisco, CA won a four round unanimous
decision over Trenton Titsworth (2-6-1, 2 KOs) of Omaha, NE. Mayfield
was at least six inches shorter than Titsworth, forcing him to have to
jump up to try and land punches to Titsworth’s head. Between the many
clinches, Titsworth’s heavy focus on defense and Mayfield’s difficulty
in landing very many hard punches, this fight was rather boring to watch
for the dedicated fight fans in attendance.
Attendance at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA for
Fight Night at the Tank was 3,453.
